The Goddess' Order 1 Year Anniversary Behind the Scenes Special!

I feel like Ellothiel right now.

Can it really have been this long already? A year has gone by? It feels as if it's taken forever, but also as if I've only just begun. It's hard to believe I'm more than halfway through the challenge. It's also a bit sad. Doing this challenge has become such a big part of my life that I don't know what I'm going to do when it ends. Another challenge, yeah, but it will never be the same. I'll never get attached to another Sim project like how I've grown attached to The Goddess' Order. It will be special. I probably won't ever be able to leave it alone. Perhaps for each anniversary, or whenever I feel like it, a bit more of Ellothiel's life will be presented to you. I'm sure I have enough creative juices left in me to always find a new story of hers to tell. I'll get lonely without her if I let her go entirely.

That's the future though. Ellothiel still has a lot more to tell you, and many more babies to give birth to. You're stuck with her and me for a little bit longer. And so, in honor of our one year anniversary, I've decided to make this post. There were many ideas I considered, none of which I will tell you in case I decide to do them later. I don't want to spoil anything. What you will be getting is a a behind the scenes look at the lovely Sims of The Goddess' Order. Things go wrong in-game more often than you would think, or otherwise the Sims are just odd. There are also some things I think would be interesting to share, but would weird to include in the storyline.

So here we go, your first look at what happens when you glance your eyes away!

We actually don't start until after Ellothiel and family have moved into the big house in Appaloosa Plains. This crazy dog is what prompted me to start taking screenshots of the glitches and odds things that happened. I've seen this glitch a couple times now. The dog was actually pretty cute, and now I wish I had taken it in.

A lot of times I end up with dozens and dozens of screenshots in my folder simply because my Sims just can't give me the right expression I'm looking for. It's also very common for the expressions on the Sims to just be so over-the-top. This one of Eloril is a mild one of those.

Ellothiel's attempt at a duck face.

In case you weren't aware, Eloril was actually Anondil's true father. It's why I made them so connected even though they weren't allowed to be father and son in the story. I love how chubby man-pregnant Eloril looks.

Apparently, the best way to clean a sink is to stand inside it.

Stray animals just love to come onto my lot to die. It's really annoying when I'm trying to take pictures, and the game forces everyone to run outside to see the random animal pass away.

Elrunamir naturally wasn't dead yet when I took the shot of him being dead. He was around for another day or two before he finally reached his last moments.

Synchronized mourning powers activate!

Lothirien with Ellothiel's hair. I only wish I had remembered to take a screenshot of her in her YA stage with the hair instead of her being in the Adult stage.

Not amused Threlad.

I forget which child this is, but that is a nasty explosion to be caught in. I've never seen the failed experiment explosion so big before.

And here's where I made the mistake of downloading Sims off the exchange who had custom content. This was Anithien as a baby with the bad CC making her bug out. It's why you don't see a picture of her as a baby since I had to age her up right away. In fact, if you take a look you don't see any pictures of babies for a long time. That's because it took me a while to get rid of the bad CC to make them look normal again.

I do this a lot, creating a basement room for Sims to live in. I made this for Eloril so that I could keep him around in the household but out of sight even though in the storyline he left to return home to the elvish lands. It didn't really make a difference since I deleted the Appaloosa Plains world after I successfully got the Monte Vista world up and running.

That cannot smell good. Or be comfortable.

Ellothiel has mad pizza making skills.

This is how all the cool thieves sneak up to houses.

Elridia with the clothing glitch. That stupid vampire shirt caused me so many problems.

I guess that's one way to run.

I love how she's just so excited. It's like, "Heeeeeeere we gooooo!"

Now you can see why I didn't show the babies for a while.

And constantly fixing the toddlers was a mess. After this, I got everything cleaned up though.

Young Adult Elridia with Ellothiel's hair. I could have taken off her make-up and given her Ellothiel's clothes, and I'm sure no one would have noticed if I switched them.

Nioniel decided that she would be able to paint better while shoving the paintbrush through a stack of dirty plates.

There's nothing really strange about this picture. Nari was just thirsty, and I loved how cute she looked with her tongue sticking out.

It was so hard to do the dramatic reveal of the task to Eiji and his parents since he and Ellothiel kept looking and talking to each other with these wide-eyed, happy expressions. I never really liked the shots I got for this scene, but had to simply go with the best ones.

More basement rooms! There's one for Eiji and his parents, and one for Petrick Zeiss. Petrick was actually part of the household for a long time. He was originally supposed to have a much larger and different part in the story. He was meant to be an intense stalker who would eventually violently threaten Ellothiel to have a child with him instead of being the socially awkward nuisance he became. Eiji's storyline was never supposed to be so intricate, yet it grew, and Petrick's plot got pushed to the side.

Fiendir looks so crazed. It seems like Ellothiel is protecting Erondir from his insane twin.

I got some really cool pose shots from Ellothiel and Londuil's martial arts fight, but Ellothiel had this smiling look stuck on her face so all the pictures I really liked were useless. I tried having them fight multiple times, but her expression remained the same.

That must have been some pretty bad woohoo for Ellothiel to turn out like that.

My game didn't like Lewis Winter's skin or hair. I was really disappointed because I liked his original appearance.

Ellothiel really does love walking into things.

It's hilarious how fascinated she is by her foot, and how disgusted Lar is by his.

You would think Ellothiel would know how to properly potty-train a toddler by now.

I didn't expect Serith and Tirith to be a set of twins, but I had always planned for the next male pregnancy to be multiples. I was actually trying for male triplets to counter out Aravilui, Arluwen, and Amadrie. Ellothiel was glued to the children's programming on television and the kid's station on the radio was constantly playing. Renduil and Rion were the result.

Renduil had some problems with his teddy bear, and also with the floor.

This happened- a repair woman who changed into one of her normal outfits after fixing the shower. I guess she changed into her naked outfit somehow, with the shirt being coded for use in a naked outfit? That's really the only thing I can think that it would be since I don't have any naked tops or bottoms installed.

It really was such a pain to get everyone out to go somewhere. Too many Sims!

Yet the entire family could apparently all fit inside a small, two-person car.

I was really disappointed by this birthday party. I invited all of Ellothiel's children over, but only a couple showed up. Ellothiel also decided to make my picture taking difficult by showing off her ability to walk in the air.

Lomaraniel turning her imaginary friend, Axel, real.

Sometimes when it got so frustrating trying to keep track of everyone, I just sat them all down in front of the television for hours on end.

Forever alone?

I never use birthday cakes for babies. I use Trigger Age Transition instead. Even though my mouse was on the baby and the baby's name showed up, for some reason the game thought I was clicking on Ellothiel. It triggered her birthday instead. So here she is as an Adult. Thankfully, only one or two of her outfits got messed up and I got her back to her pretty, young self in no time.

I was taking some shots of Ellothiel flirting with the next baby daddy when I spotted Idhren playing catch with one of his children in the nearby lot.

I sent Elrundir and Eloril out to cure their stir-craziness, and Elrundir came back wearing a master chef's outfit for some reason.

Derp.

Isn't that painful?

Like Elrunamir, Cirabel was still well and alive in the shot that shows her being dead. In order to stay true to the story, I actually had to make her drown. It was one of the hardest things I ever did. Watching her beg for her life made me want to cry.

Grim then taunted the family by immediately jumping into the pool after he took Cirabel away.

The night of her funeral, Cirabel appeared for the first time as a ghost. She asked Elrundir to read her a bedtime story, and decided to fall asleep next to Ellothiel.

She does make a very adorable ghost child.

Just like it was hard to feel serious during the situation with Ellothiel and Eiji, it was hard to actually get into the sad mood to properly write the updates that come after Cirabel's death. That's because when I put Elrundir and Ellothiel into yet another basement room I built, all they did was spend the days playing games and pillow fighting.

This was a shot of Eloril that I really like.

Some horse glitched into Ellothiel's bedroom, lagging about as it walked.

Elioviel is one of my favorite Sims.

Like, ever.

The pool wasn't good enough for Zuri, so she decided to swim in the driveway.

Put these two together, and you have the cutest grandpa/granddaughter combo.

This came out of absolutely nowhere. I think Eloril somehow gained a mind of his own, because he suddenly looked right at the camera and blew a kiss. Like, look at that. He knows what's going on. He knows 0.0

Besides being sad, it was also really frustrating to have Elrundir and Eloril leave. It meant Ellothiel couldn't leave the house freely anymore, and she had to just leave Elediril sitting alone outside whatever building Ellothiel had to go into that he couldn't enter.

I caught what I think is a pretty cool jumping pose of Elioviel aging up.

Sims that come home after school with my Sims are usually just annoying. These two refused to go home, and thought it would be a nice idea to have a loud pillow fight while Ellothiel was trying to sleep.

Noril fails to build a block tower correctly but learns in the meantime that he is very flexible.

That's all the in-game pictures of The Goddess Order I have for you, but there's a bit more I would like to share. Some of you are aware that Ellothiel is inspired from a character with the same name in a Lord of the Rings fanfiction I am writing. This Ellothiel and that Ellothiel are not meant to be the same person. They share a name, hair and eye color, and the occasional characteristic or mannerism. This Ellothiel's small similarities to her inspiration are not the only thing I have sneaked in to TGO. I've used more from Ellothiel's fanfiction as well as something from another LotR fanfiction of mine. I haven't released either of them publicly so there would have been no way for you to what those things are, but I decided to let you in on my little secrets for this anniversary post.

     "Tal!" Elrohir called for the person who was supposed to be waiting for them.

     "Over here! I am in Carawen's stall!" Tal answered back from a stall in the middle of the left row.

     Ellothiel followed her brothers as they moved towards Tal's voice. She was used to everyone towering over her, but the horses were taller than any elf she had met. One whinnied loudly as she passed, and Ellothiel jumped into Elrohir from fright. He took her hand, and she held it tight. While she still wanted to see the horses, she hadn't thought they would be so scary.

     They reached the correct stall, and Elladan opened the door for her to go in. The gray horse inside was decently smaller than the others, but Ellothiel silently refused to move forward. Elrohir, having the intuition that she would feel more confident if she was higher up, took her in his arms once more. Ellothiel did feel better now that she didn't have to look straight up at the horse. Elrohir walked inside the stall with her, and Elladan closed the door and stood outside to watch since the stall would have been too crowded otherwise.

     "Good morning my lords, and my lady." the elf in the stall greeted them.

     He was one of the few elves in Imladris that Ellothiel had met who had fair hair like hers. He was standing in the back of the stall with a strange, metal instrument she had never seen before.

     "Ellothiel, this is Talron. He is the stable master and in charge of all the horses here." Elrohir introduced them.

Yes, that's right. In Ellothiel's fanfiction, Talron is not her first horse but the stable master of Imladris (Rivendell). Talron would have been a stable master in The Goddess Order if I had needed one. I didn't though, so he became the horse instead. In my fanfiction, the name of Ellothiel's first horse is actually Sulfaer. You might have also noticed the name Carawen that was mentioned. In this case, a horse was changed into an elf. Carawen is the name of Eloril's childhood friend who he went on to name Nikara after.

I haven't gotten to any point in my fanfiction where Henduil actually makes an appearance, but as Ellothiel grows older he becomes one of her very good friends. I decided to use his name for the second born son of the quads Ellothiel had in TGO.

     The bright orange glow of the sun slid across the land of Mirkwood. Birds darted in and out of the treetops, and other signs of life appeared in the great forest as night gave way to morning. The sky was clear and cloudless. The rain that had persisted fiercely the past few days had been spent and left the air crisp and clean. With a light wind gently rustling the leaves of the tall trees, the day had the making of one of great peace.

     However, the king of Mirkwood, Thranduil, knew that even the days that seemed the most peaceful could still be broken into discord. As he got dressed that morning, there was a worry that stirred deep inside his heart which whispered him a caution. Why he felt such a warning was beyond him, but he could be sure he knew the cause. That cause was his sons. Why he had ever permitted himself to be the father of five rambunctious male elflings he could never understand.

     What he would give for a week of quiet; there would be no fighting, anger spurred from constant jesting, or bruises caused by the occasional scuffle. Thranduil sighed as he looked out from the large glass window in his room. Those boys knew how to age him. He hoped against the warning he felt that today they would do nothing to make the lines on his brow deepen.

     Unbeknownst to Thranduil, his hopeful day of peace was already in jeopardy. His sons had woken early that morning. They had dressed quickly and dashed to the kitchens to snatch bits of food; their stomachs grew too hungry to wait for breakfast. Knowing there was still some time until the actual meal, four of them left to wander outside. Only Legolas, the fourth son, chose to stay inside and wait patiently.

     Meldiron and Sidhion, the second and third sons, had picked up sticks and were having a pretend swordfight as they moved through the forest. The two brothers were the closest in age compared to the rest of their siblings, and were the main cause of Thranduil's woes.

     The speed of their attacks against each other increased. The mock fight intensified as Sidhion started to fall under his older brother's power. Although not older by a lot, Meldiron was a much stronger fighter. It was all Sidhion could do to stave off his attacks. He was quickly being pushed backwards towards an abnormally tall tree. Not aware of an exposed root, his foot got caught sending him falling to the ground. Meldiron hurriedly stood over his brother and placed the tip of his stick against Sidhion's chest.

     "And I win." he announced triumphantly, grinning widely. 

     "That's not fair. If I hadn't tripped...." Sidhion complained as he pushed Meldiron away from him and stood back up.

     "It's very fair. In a real battle, the enemy wouldn't stop and give you time to stand up and fight back. He would take advantage of your fall and strike while you're down." Meldiron explained matter-of-factly, "That's why you've got to be quick and be prepared, always vigilant for any attack that will come your way."

     Sidhion pouted, still sulking about being forced to his back. He had to accept the answer though. Meldiron was almost always right when it came to the rules and strategies of fighting. However, something then happened that cheered him up.

     Out of nowhere came a swishing sound, and before he could tell what was going on, Meldiron was hit in the chest. He stumbled, tripped over his own feet, and was forced on the ground much like Sidhion had been. Sidhion started laughing loudly, and Meldiron sat up, blushing. He looked at his attacker.

     "Ortherion, what do you think you're doing?" he fumed.

     Ortherion was the youngest prince, appearing no older than a human child the age of seven. He held a stick in his hands and was grinning happily. It had been the first time the young elf had ever managed to land a blow on his brother that had sent him to the ground. It had always been the other way around.

     "I was joining in on the fight." Ortherion answered Meldiron simply.

     He offered his hand to help his brother up, but Meldiron's pride was wounded and he stood up on his own.

     "The fight was over." he said, his eyes narrowing.

     There was a chuckle.

     "Weren't you the one who just said 'you've got to be quick and be prepared, always vigilant for any attack that will come your way'?" the oldest prince, Idhren, spoke with an amused tone.

This excerpt is from the first Lord of the Rings fanfiction I ever started. I have it planned out pretty decently in notes and in my head, but I've never actually gotten around to working on the main story itself. This bit that you read is from one of the short stories I've written about the brothers' lives before the main story takes place. Idhren, Meldiron, Sidhion, Legolas, and Ortherion are the five sons of the elf-king of Mirkwood, Thranduil. I borrowed Idhren, Meldiron, Sidhion, and Ortherion's names to use in TGO. I left Legolas out for obvious reasons. The four brothers in TGO only share names, and each is quite unlike their namesake in the fanfiction.

There is something else that I've borrowed from Ellothiel's fanfiction, but I can't tell you what it is or else I'll spoil probably one of the biggest surprises I have in store for the end of The Goddess' Order. It'll be very interesting to see if any of you have guesses as to what it might be.

And soooo, this is it! I hope you enjoyed this little update and splurge of information. Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading from the beginning, who joined mid-way, or who is coming across this blog for the first time. It doesn't matter which you are because this story is for all of you. You're all my motivators.

It's been a truly incredible year, and I hope you're as excited as I am to see what this new one brings. It will be fun to see where this story will be when October 17th comes around again. Will it be over, or nearing its conclusion? You'll just have to stick around to find out!

Best wishes,
Kelsey
(a.k.a. iButterfree)